THE FUTURE OF ENGINEERING

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Twentieth century industries were built on a foundation of engineering. Engineers then were builders in the tradition of Thomas Edison, specialists who stuck to their core discipline for life. Twenty first century engineers belong to a different league. They are no longer mechanical, electrical, chemical or computer engineers. They practice a subject that is fuzzy as well as precise, deep as well as broad, general as well as specialised. They are building a set of industries that are sophisticated, efficient and environment friendly.

Today's engineers learn mathematics, computation and science as core disciplines. Tomorrow's engineers will learn architecture, anthropology, sociology or performing arts as well .

Some of the quotes:

Andrew Hopper, Professor of computer Technology at Cambridge University says that Digital tech will include everything, people or structures.

Krishna Mikkilineni, Senior Vice President, Engineering, Honeywell says "we are looking for engineers with good design sense, not an engineer and a designer working together"
R.A. Mashelkar, former director general of CSIR says that the future belongs to engineering biological structures.

The Human face of Engineering

Conquering Cancer
Engineers are characterising biological systems a million times more accurately than before. Nano technology is letting researchers do a multiplicity of things: target drugs precisely at cancer cells, making immune cells fight cancer, take high quality images of tumours and develop new kinds of ratio therapy.

Providing Affordable Housing
So far, high technology went only into expensive structures. A new set of engineers is researching low cost materials & methods to make quality houses affordable to a larger section of society.

Keeping the Earth Livable
As human settlements destroy natural ecosystems, engineers are researching methods to restore them and to create new ones for human beings to live on sound ecological principles.

OPPORTUNITIES IN NEW AGE ENGINEERING

Printed and organic Electronics
Industry size: $ 10 billion rising to $ 64 billion by 2022
Products: RFID tags, intelligent packaging, cheap solar cells, health monitoring
Global Impact: Widespread use of electronics
Challenge: Developing processes that are easy, environment friendly and ultra cheap.

Nanomedicine

Industry size: $ 80 billion rising to $ 130 billion by 2016
Products: Diagonstics and treatment for many diseases, especially cancer
Global Impact: Next Generation treatments
Challenge: Characterisation of materials.

Smart Power Systems

Industry size: $ 10 billion rising to $ 500 billion by 2030
Products: Intelligent grid,storage systems, vehicle charging platforms
Global Impact: Smooth and efficient utilisation of electricity
Challenge: High level of integration .

Construction

Industry size: $ 7.2 trillion rising to $ 12 trillion by 2020
Products: Environment neutral structures that can diagonse and heal themselves.
Global Impact: Positive influence on human health and ecosystems
Challenge: Improving efficiency and productivity.

As engineering adapts to societal changes, the traditional engineering mindset is changing too.

Sources:
IDtechEx, BCC research, Greentech Media, Global construction perspective and oxford economics
The Economic Times Weekly magazine May 19-25 2013

V.SENTHILNATHAN